Saturday, 31 December 2011

New Years Eve - An Angel

Welcome to New Year's Eve, I hope you have a great day and enjoy some celebrations this evening with loved ones and friends. We are having a few neighbours in and the family round to celebrate, but there is a sting in the tail for me today as it is the first anniversary of my dear Mum passing away and of course there are bitter sweet memories that this day holds for me.

However we must look forward to another new year and I wish for the world to become a more peaceful place and that humankind learns to live with one another more happily; with a focus of improving the environment and ensuring our planet stays safe for our future and our grandchildren's future.

I was playing the other day (as you do) and decided to try out another workshop activity from the La Blanche book. A simple piece, I had fun doing it and I used  a La Blanche stamp.


Dedicated to my Mum who was always an 'angel' in oh so many ways. I love you Mum.


I wish each and everyone of you a wonderful new year's eve and a happy, healthy and peaceful new year ahead. Thank you for being a follower, a friend and a blogging buddy. Thank you for your supportive and encouraging comments and messages and thank you for being a part of my life. I am grateful to each and every one of you for visiting me.

New Year's Reflections
Looking back on the months gone by,
As a new year starts and an old one ends,
We contemplate what bought us joy,
And we think of our loved ones and our friends.
Recalling all the happy times,
Remembering how they enriched our lives,
We reflect upon who really counts,
As the fresh and bright new year arrives.
And when I ponder those who do,
I immediately think of you.
Thanks for being one of the reasons I'll have another Happy New Year!
By Joanna Fuchs

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

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Friday, 30 December 2011

The Stamp Man 3rd Annual Awards!!!

Hi Everyone 

At the Stamp Man today we are announcing our third annual Awards Challenge. This is the opportunity for you to choose your favourite project of the year and show us what that is. It doesn't have to be something you entered into a Stamp Man challenge, but something you are very proud of and want to share again. Jill has very kindly offered a first prize of £30 gift voucher for her on-line shop and 4 runner up prizes as well, so please pop over and take a look at what the DT have offered as their favourite project.

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There are lots of things that I am very proud of making this year and I can see how my art has changed and grown. I still enjoy experimenting with new techniques and products but I seem to have 2 main styles, vintage and shabby chic and I love making all sorts of different things, particularly cards and altered art. So I have chosen to show you again a tag I made in August that I gave to a friend as part of her 60th birthday present, she loved it and so did I.


I hope you will join us in celebrating our art and show to the world what wonderful creations and inspiration we can find from our blogging friends and these great challenges. If you join us please take the Stamp Man Award - here and on my sidebar or on the challenge blog to show you you have presented your project.

Enjoy your day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

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Monday, 26 December 2011

When you wish upon a star

Happy Boxing Day. We are off to my son's today to go and see what Santa brought the grandchildren - they always seem to get far too much.

I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas Day with your loved ones. Santa was very kind to me and bought me lots of wonderful goodies, including some great crafting pressies. How lucky I am.

 I have been inspired by the Gingersnap Creations Chestnut Theme Challenge - 'Starry Night'.  It is ages since I have had the chance to enter any challenges and am enjoying the opportunity to do so.


 Experimenting with PPs and Stazon ink I got a very clear definition from a Kanban stamp on a PP background. Once I had applied the colour for the background, I rubbed it over with a clean, dry wipe to get any excess powder off first.

The stars were created using some sequin waste and Versamark with several different colours of PP dabbed over the top, the star was made cutting two stars using the Cricut and then adding a star gem to the middle. The 'wish' sentiment is a Sizzix die and embossed with glittery embossing powder.

I think I will put this piece in my art journal and start a section for PP techniques.

Here are my other 'Stars'. This was the day before Christmas Eve and I had the girls for the afternoon whilst Mum went shopping and then both Mum and Dad and their other helper wrapped presents.

This is Ella (showing her gappy teeth) and Maddison baking cakes and decorating with .........

...... of course - stars. This is one of Ellas -

.... and these were Maddisons.

Do you know Santa must have been very hungry when he got to their house - he ate one of their cakes as well as a biscuit and mince-pie and he drank a cup of milk!!!

Enjoy your day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox



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Friday, 23 December 2011

Sledging Vintage Christmas card.

I thought I had finished all my Christmas cards but here is just one more to show you which is using a vintage image and MME papers. There are three different DPs in the background and the image has been mounted onto plain green paper and the scalloped edge painted with white acrylic paint.  The poinsettia has been made using a Crealies die and some lace and a sentiment have been added to the finished product.


Not long to go now, 'what' I hear you say two more sleeps till Santa comes - oh boy.

Just a few last minute things to do in the morning and then the family come round for a late afternoon dinner and some neighbours are coming in for drinks in the evening. 

Have a fun time with your family and friends.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox



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Tuesday, 20 December 2011

My last Christmas card

Here it is my last card for this year and of course it is for my dear hubbie. I had great fun making it at my sister's yesterday - good isn't it when you can go visiting and get stuck in creating and making something.


It is an 8 x 8 card. The stamp is Kanban, which I painted with distress inks and vintage mica paints. I stamped the image twice and decoupaged the bird and berries to give them some 'lift'.


I foiled the edge of the card and the backing paper and also added a few bits to the image itself. The letters for his name were embossed die-cut in gold mirri card and I added alcohol inks over it.


The backing paper (source unknown) not only had the holly on but recipes too, which is perfect for Ken as he is the cook in the house (aren't I the lucky one?)

I hope he will like it. Just got to buy a couple more bits and finish wrapping, then I am there. 

Enjoy the last few days getting ready. The weekend will be upon us before we know it.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox


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Monday, 19 December 2011

My News

OK I think it is safe to give you my news now seeing as my name is now listed as a new team member for


the 



Yay.  I shall be staying with Fashionable Stamping Challenges and  The Stamp Man and have taken a sabbatical from Divas by Design for a while whilst I am still working.


Those of you who know me have seen my experiments with PanPastels and know I love working with them, so this is going to be a real pleasure for me. My thanks to Berni, Kerry and Pete for taking me on board with three other new members, including my buddies Gillian and Claire, so I am in excellent company along with Eileen, Lindsay and Linda. What a great early Christmas present.


I hope I will see you over at the challenges for PanPastels UK, you can use any medium for your entry it isn't just for using the PP product, but you could win some if you are the lucky winner any week. The new challenges start January 15th, so keep an eye open for them.


luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox


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Sunday, 18 December 2011

PanPastels Gift Tags

Update Sunday night - I wrote this blog Friday night, ready to photograph my tags and get this up Saturday morning to enter the PP challenge . As you can see I missed it - I just got tied up in Christmassy bits and getting ready for guests Friday night. Oh well never mind. I have had some good news today , but can't share it with you just yet - hopefully soon.

Well I have broken up for the Christmas holidays and school is closed until the 3rd January so now I can get myself organised for the festive season at home and have a bit of crafty fun.

I have so missed both creating and making and visiting all you wonderful blogging buddies, so hopefully you will see me around a little bit for the next 2 weeks or so.

I had a little play with my PanPastels and tags as the challenge at the PanPastel blog last week was gift tags. I experimented with PPs, water and embossing ink. Take a look at the differences in these tags.


This first one has a snowman stamped with PPs misted with water. It is very light and misty - good for a ghost stamped effect.


The second one shows a tag lightly covered with PPs and then over stamped with embossing ink and PPs dabbed over the top.  (I misted the stamp with water before stamping it). Much stronger in colour.


The third tag has been stamped with embossing ink, PPs dabbed over it and then it was misted with water and heat dried.

As you can see each one created a different effect and all 3 are really gorgeous (the photos really don't do them justice) and all 3 were edged with Chipped Sapphire DI. No embellishments , just my experiments and already they are on pressies.

So I didn't get to enter into the PanPastels gift tag challenge this week, but never mind.

Have a wonderful week, my friends.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox




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Travelling Around the World at FSC

Here we are again another Sunday with a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges. I can imagine that some of you have packed away all the Christmas craft stuff and are looking for fresh challenges to get your teeth into - well how about this one then? So long as you show us your stamping (not digis please) then come join the party as we travel around the world.

I have made a mini book and this is the cover. On it you can see the ticket to travel with. (I wish it really was that easy!!!)

A real key, TH token, frame covered with foil and coloured with alcohol inks, glass fragment and spinner, and TH tickets.

You can see the alcohol inks blended into the foil here.


Every page was inked and stamped in the same colours and the cover has the embellishing. I know just the person who might like this next year.

The lovely Stampettes at FSC have some amazing pieces as inspiration for this challenge and of course there will be a prize provided by Marina at Cottage Crafts. We would love to see what you create.

How are you doing with all your Christmas preparations? I need to finish a few more cards, buy a few more pressies and then get everything wrapped. So I guess I am getting there.  Off to see my sis tomorrow and take her bits and pieces up to her.

Have a wonderful week and see you soon.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxoxox

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Monday, 12 December 2011

Vintage Santa Christmas card

I made some vintage Christmas cards a couple of weeks ago using MME 12x12 Christmas papers. The image is from a pack I bought at QVC last year.


I cut 3 strips of the paper and sewed them together and added white acrylic paint to the edges. I mounted the image and again painted the edge, then added a MS snowflake covered in glitter, a button and chipboard sentiment with ribbon.

Eh voila another vintage card.

I am sooooo sorry I am not about again at the moment. The end of term with all the Christmas activities and finishing paperwork etc has taken most of my time plus I have caught a very heavy cold which seems to be going down on my chest. So the little time I have had has been shared with writing Christmas cards, decorating the trees and snuggling up with a blanket on the sofa. So I am looking forward to Friday and getting more time to finish Christmas wrapping and time for creating and blogging.

I hope all of you, my blogging friends, are keeping well and I look forward to catching up with you soon.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox



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Tuesday, 6 December 2011

My Christmas Angel

I just had to share these tonight. I went to the Nativity Play at our local school this morning (where I am a governor), not expecting to see my granddaughter, Ella, as she is really quite poorly with a cough and cold. But I got a text from Bev saying she wanted to go in as she was in the play as an angel, so I just couldn't resist posting these pics. You can see she looks very peaky but she did everything she was supposed to do so beautifully.




How lovely to have your own Christmas angel. She brought a tear to my eye watching her.

Thanks for letting me share my angel with you.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox




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Memory Box dies on Vintage Christmas card.

When I was teaching at the Art of Craft, I was shown some Memory Box dies, well I just loved them and bought several (ahem oh dear).


 I used this lovely family of deer on some shiny metallic card and laid it over a stamped and painted snowy scene. The papers are from MME - a Signature Christmas by Jen Wilson and what fabulous colours and designs each 12x12 is. I have used three of them on this card, added a border punch strip, a bow and snowflakes (also by Memory Box) to achieve this vintage look.



luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox



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Monday, 5 December 2011

Tim's Tags of Christmas 2011


Well I have managed to make 2 so far.

Please excuse the photography -  didn't manage to get them finished in time to take them in the daylight. But I hope you can see the similarities.


I don't have any kraft resist paper so I made my own with a piece of brown wrapping paper, music stamp and embossing. In the top left corner is a Poinsettia, but you can't see that now. I also don't have the edge die and again improvised using a spellbinders border and using the cut away.
I am quite pleased with the outcome though.


I loved making the background for this one - great technique, but more improvisation as I don't have the coredinations. I also have to admit that the pinecones are off of an old decoration.

Maybe I will be able to make some more soon, but I will certainly try when both school and Christmas preparations are finished.

Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox



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Sunday, 4 December 2011

Grandma's Sewing Room

Hello there. Welcome to another Sunday and a new Fashionable Stamping Challenge. Our entrants are showing us some of the most amazing art ........... we're definitely having to work hard to keep up with the superb quality.

Today we are asking you to show us some dressmaking, corsets and/or accessories on your work, and as most of you know this is one of my favourite themes. I have gone the altered art route and changed a wooden box shelf into Grandma's sewing room. Would it have been like this do you think?



I picked up some of these great box shelves at a carboot recently. It started life looking like this


so you can see the great change in it now.




I have given the wood numerous coats of gesso and white acrylic paint and finished off with picket fence crackle paint. It has been sanded down, edges exposed and inka gold applied over it to give it an even more shabby look.



The background is where I did most of my stamping, using stamps by Wendy Vecchi, Andy Skinner and Hampton Art. I printed the main shapes onto fabric, masked them off and added collage text and other stamps over them. I painted in the larger items using distress inks.



The table (made from Wendy Vecchi Art Parts) has miniatures on it and there are other bits and pieces strewn across the floor.  The wooden hanger is hooked to an old zipper that has been stuck to the ceiling. The set of rickety shelves I made from greyboard and painted, cutting fabric to go on them.


 I also used numerous moulds which I covered in Panpastels and then sprayed with 'spray and shine'.



 The frame has three dress forms all covered with tissue paper stamped with the TH Haberdashery set.



I hope you like my piece of altered art - please go over to the challenge blog to see the team's fabulous interpretations,

This is a great opportunity to make something very feminine and as long as you show us some stamping (not digis) you are in for a chance to win a great prize from Marina at Cottage Crafts.

I can't believe 3 weeks and we will be celebrating Christmas Day. I hope your preparations are gong well. I feel as though I have still got lots to do but I did get the living room decorated yesterday and we will get our trees next weekend.

Enjoy your day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Stamps and Fun- Distressing
Sunday Stamper - Love and/or life    As this theme is a real love of mine does that count Hels?
Craft Your days away - buttons or bows
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